iPhone doesn't last 30 hours when playing back audio, unless maybe you put it in airplane mode, never turn the screen on, and leave it at the lowest volume. My friends 3Gs lasts just about as long as my Pre, 5 hours with volume at a listenable level, streaming off Pandora. MP3's in airplane mode might be 6. Phones are not good as iPods in general.

I recently used my 3GS to listen to a boatload of music while traveling, and can tell you I passed 20 hours and still had a good chunk of battery to spare. So the claimed 30 seems attainable to me. When listening to music, I normally sleep the device (tap the button on top) which turns the screen off (no reason to leave it on if the iPhone is in my pocket). Another thing to keep in mind is that the 3GS has a pretty efficient hardware/software combination for decoding compressed music, which has to help. It's even better than previous generation iPhones in that regard.

I recently used my 3GS to listen to a boatload of music while traveling, and can tell you I passed 20 hours and still had a good chunk of battery to spare. So the claimed 30 seems attainable to me. When listening to music, I normally sleep the device (tap the button on top) which turns the screen off (no reason to leave it on if the iPhone is in my pocket). Another thing to keep in mind is that the 3GS has a pretty efficient hardware/software combination for decoding compressed music, which has to help. It's even better than previous generation iPhones in that regard.

speaker on?

also i m not sure about hardware/software music decoder statement. I highly doubt thats the problem, if there is a problem.

Palm is a connected device, more so than iPhone, that might drain more battery.

Still, there is no reason to ignore the fact that Pre has replaceable battery, which people can buy 5 extra plus a charger for $25-$50.

I used my pre at work and it died after about 9 hours of music play around the end of the day while it was on airplane mode. This was also using my spare battery which hasn't really been broken in. I've found with the battery's you have to fully discharge them two or three times before they give you optimal behavior. Still, I'll agree the pre's battery life is not great regardless of the bench mark. I still love it though!

I hear a lot about the battery problems, so when I got the phone I planned ahead. I bought a Touchstone for work and a car charger, the two places I listen to music the most. That way I never have to worry about it.

After installing a Touchstone in the car, battery life is no longer an issue. If I listen to music on the Pre, it is either at work (plugged in to charge on my laptop) or in the car (plugged into the stereo and sittng on the Touchstone). Rarely do I have a chance to listen to music anywhere else. So even after HEAVY use all day, I am still around 90% when I go to bed. I realize that it is not ideal to have to charge your phone most of the day...but I agree with robskittles that the other option would be the extended battery. But the Touchstone in the car is a really good option...it gives a place for the Pre to sit and keeps the battery topped off.

It is an awful media player. I thought I wouldn't need a mp3 device but now I realize that it is a must. Especially since the battery is horrid now. I lost 25% in an hour and a half, that's just ridiculous...

It is an awful media player. I thought I wouldn't need a mp3 device but now I realize that it is a must. Especially since the battery is horrid now. I lost 25% in an hour and a half, that's just ridiculous...

Depends on your criteria for what makes a good media player. Video and sound quality on the Pre are top notch in my opinion, and this is much more important to me than battery life. The only time battery life really matters to me for media is when I'm on an airplane, but of course then I can use airplane mode and really do quite well on battery.

Battery life during music playback is AWFUL. Starting with a full charge, I managed 4 hours of playback before the battery hit 25%. Is this normal - I really hope that this can be improved. Considering the Pre (from what i've read here) and iphone have the same hardware and the iphone plays audo for close to 30 hours, i'm really starting to get peeved by the overall Pre performance penalties.

during my brief foray with a BB Storm I was able to pull off 10 hours before hitting the 25% mark. The Pre is advertised as a media contender, but not even besting a BB is pretty pathetic.

Will patches fix this?

sounds like user error to me. I get 6 without a problem. I follow the battery conservation methods. I currently have 1,013 songs and 2 full length movies on my Pre. I can't watch the entire Transformers 2 on one battery and I never thought I would be able to.

sounds like user error to me. I get 6 without a problem. I follow the battery conservation methods. I currently have 1,013 songs and 2 full length movies on my Pre. I can't watch the entire Transformers 2 on one battery and I never thought I would be able to.

WOW im jealous ...you had time to find out you couldn't watch all of a movie on one battery LMAO Where do you find time to do that? HEHE